FILE - In this March 29, 1973 file photo, Unidentified U.S. prisoners of war stand in the courtyard of Hanoi’s POW camp at Nga Tu So street waiting for an inspection of the camp by joint military and international control and supervision commissions. On Thursday, May 24, 2013, some 200 former POWs, almost all of them former pilots, will reunite for a three-day celebration at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba LInda, Calif., that coincides with the 40th anniversary of a star-studded White House dinner hosted by President Nixon to honor their sacrifice. At the time, Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but the former prisoners, now in their 60s and 70s, credit him with their freedom and have no qualms about expressing their loyalty for the 37th president. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)

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FILE - In this March 29, 1973 file photo, Unidentified U.S. prisoners of war stand in the courtyard of Hanoi’s POW camp at Nga Tu So street waiting for an inspection of the camp by joint military and international control and supervision commissions. On Thursday, May 24, 2013, some 200 former POWs, almost all of them former pilots, will reunite for a three-day celebration at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba LInda, Calif., that coincides with the 40th anniversary of a star-studded White House dinner hosted by President Nixon to honor their sacrifice. At the time, Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but the former prisoners, now in their 60s and 70s, credit him with their freedom and have no qualms about expressing their loyalty for the 37th president. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)

FILE - In this March 4, 1973 file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, cheers, shouts, thumbs up, &quot;V&quot; signs and general jubilation shows in the expressions of the released POWs as their C-141 plane lifts off from Gia Lam Airport taking them to Clark Air Base in the Philippines On Thursday, May 24, 2013, some 200 former POWs, almost all of them former pilots, will reunite for a three-day celebration at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba LInda, Calif., that coincides with the 40th anniversary of a star-studded White House dinner hosted by President Nixon to honor their sacrifice. At the time, Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but the former prisoners, now in their 60s and 70s, credit him with their freedom and have no qualms about expressing their loyalty for the 37th president. AP Photo/USAF, File)

+Read Caption

FILE - In this March 4, 1973 file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, cheers, shouts, thumbs up, "V" signs and general jubilation shows in the expressions of the released POWs as their C-141 plane lifts off from Gia Lam Airport taking them to Clark Air Base in the Philippines On Thursday, May 24, 2013, some 200 former POWs, almost all of them former pilots, will reunite for a three-day celebration at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba LInda, Calif., that coincides with the 40th anniversary of a star-studded White House dinner hosted by President Nixon to honor their sacrifice. At the time, Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but the former prisoners, now in their 60s and 70s, credit him with their freedom and have no qualms about expressing their loyalty for the 37th president. AP Photo/USAF, File)

FILE - In this May 24, 1973 file photo, President Richard Nixon gives thumbs up as he addresses about 450 former POWs and their guests at a White House dinner in Washington, DC. On Thursday, May 24, 2013, some 200 former POWs, almost all of them former pilots, will reunite for a three-day celebration at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba LInda, Calif., that coincides with the 40th anniversary of that star-studded White House dinner hosted by President Nixon to honor their sacrifice. At the time, Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but the former prisoners, now in their 60s and 70s, credit him with their freedom and have no qualms about expressing their loyalty for the 37th president. (AP Photo, File)

+Read Caption

FILE - In this May 24, 1973 file photo, President Richard Nixon gives thumbs up as he addresses about 450 former POWs and their guests at a White House dinner in Washington, DC. On Thursday, May 24, 2013, some 200 former POWs, almost all of them former pilots, will reunite for a three-day celebration at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba LInda, Calif., that coincides with the 40th anniversary of that star-studded White House dinner hosted by President Nixon to honor their sacrifice. At the time, Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but the former prisoners, now in their 60s and 70s, credit him with their freedom and have no qualms about expressing their loyalty for the 37th president. (AP Photo, File)

YORBA LINDA, Calif.  After he returned from a North Vietnamese prison camp in 1973, Ev Southwick was stunned to learn that some of his fellow returning veterans weren’t being greeted with open arms.

It certainly wasn’t the homecoming he and several of his captured friends were experiencing, despite the rampant anti-war protests of the time.

“We were accorded a heroes’ welcome, and they were reviled,” recalled Southwick, of Scripps Ranch.

As part of his return, Southwick was one of about 1,300 former POWs who participated in a special dinner hosted by President Richard Nixon on the South Lawn of the White House on May 24, 1973.

At the time, Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but the former prisoners — now in their 60s and 70s — credit him with their freedom after nearly 600 were released in the spring of 1973.

On Thursday, about 200 of the former POWs came from all over the country for a special three-day reunion at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, marking 40 years since the event, known as the biggest dinner ever staged at the White House.

Eight buses full of Vietnam POWs and their family members arrived at the museum, escorted by Patriot Guard Riders, sheriff’s deputies and a fire engine, sirens blaring. The veterans were greeted with applause and live music, and they entered the library walking on a red carpet.

“It’s very satisfying to see that the honor that we all fought for is still with us,” said Edward Nixon, the president’s 82-year-old, look-alike younger brother. “It’s still here, and largely because we did not give up. We’re alive to the world today, and we’re still attractive to the rest of the world, because we kept freedom alive.”

The private Richard Nixon Foundation, which is hosting the event, has re-created, down to the menu, the elaborate black-tie dinner that the president hosted for the POWs and their spouses. This weekend’s special POW exhibit includes White House staff notes about the dinner that stressed the psychological importance of a menu of sirloin steak, fingerling potatoes and strawberry mousse because “many POWs dreamed of good American food constantly” while in captivity.

The notes also suggest that Nixon crack a joke about banning turnips and parsnips from the menu, foods the captives learned to hate.

On Thursday, the former POWs were given tours of the museum, listened to performances by the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Division Band and enjoyed a barbecue. On Friday, which marks 40 years to the day of the original event, there will be a special reception followed by a formal anniversary dinner.

On Saturday, there will be a public panel discussion in which POWs will discuss their time in captivity.

Several San Diego County-based former Vietnam POWs such as Southwick made the trip to participate in the festivities. They all fondly remembered the original dinner.

“That was a terrific deal,” said Southwick, who served in the Navy from 1953 to 1977, was a pilot during Vietnam and a prisoner for nearly six years. “The homecoming experience was kind of overwhelming.”

There were numerous celebrities of the era at the 1973 dinner, including Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr., and Irving Berlin, who led everyone in a rendition of “God Bless America.”

For Poway’s Ben Pollard, an Air Force pilot who also spent almost six years in captivity after he was shot down in 1967, the experience was kind of a blur.

“We were in such a daze,” Pollard said. “We really didn’t know what was going on. We were all just adjusting. We just knew we were free. That’s what counted.

“While we were gone, a man went to the moon and back. The whole world had changed, and we didn’t even know about it.”

Among those attending the reunion was Brian Woods, 81, of Coronado, a Naval aviator who was shot down in September 1968 and released from captivity in February 1973. Woods was the first POW to return after the cease-fire.

Upon his arrival at Miramar on Feb. 14, 1973, he told a throng of media that the POWs were grateful, overwhelmed, proud to be Americans and proud to have served the country.

Three months later, at the White House dinner, he said he sat at a table with actress Candice Bergen.

“I’m looking forward to identifying a lot of these faces that I sat next to,” Woods said Thursday as some fellow former POWs still referred to him by his old nickname: “Bad Dog.”

“We’re all getting old. I just wish there was more time so I could talk to more of the ones I knew. But there are a lot of memories walking around here for me.”

One of the organizers of this weekend’s reunion, 75-year-old former Navy flight officer Jack Ensch, spent seven months in a prison camp. The San Diegan, who served as the director of military affairs for the Padres from 1995 until 2011, lost one of his thumbs while in captivity.

“The fact that it’s 40 years to the day of the original dinner, that’s pretty significant, I think,” Ensch said. “It’s hard to believe 40 years have gone by as quickly as they have. It gives the feeling of making good use of every day you have left.”